Royals’ Billy Butler steals second base, revving up Kansas City

Billy Butler was dancing on second base on Sunday night, but that wasn’t even the most improbable part of another wild night at Kauffman Stadium. No, that was the fact that Butler had stolen second base.

It came in the third inning, just moments after Eric Hosmer’s two-run homer gave the Royals a 5-1 lead in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. Butler then walked against Angels reliever Hector Santiago, and with Alex Gordon at the plate, the glacial Butler hauled off for second.

He beat the throw from Angels catcher Chris Iannetta, slid into the bag and mimicked Jarrod Dyson’s “vroom, vroom” hand signal, a move inspired by rapper Yung Joc.

“They weren’t holding me on,” Butler said. First baseman Albert “Pujols was way back. And Santiago is really slow to the plate.”

Before he took off, Butler looked over at Royals first base coach Rusty Kuntz.

“He said: ‘Hey, you think you can get him?’” Butler said. “And I said: ‘Oh yeah.’”

As Kauffman Stadium rocked, Butler stood at second base, relishing just the sixth stolen base of his career and first of the postseason. Before Sunday, Butler had five stolen bases in 1,169 career games, including three playoff games. His last one came on July 5, 2012, in a victory at Toronto. Now the Royals were running again, onto the American League Championship Series after a 8-3 victory.

“When Billy Butler steals a base,” center fielder Lorenzo Cain said, “you know it’s your night.”

And about that dance move?

“That’s what we do when we steal a base,” Butler said. “I’m in that category now.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2014 at 10:19 PM with the headline "Royals’ Billy Butler steals second base, revving up Kansas City."